LAS VEGAS — Brandon Figueroa tried to go back to the swarming style Saturday night that served the former two-division champion well before his decisive defeat to Stephen Fulton in their rematch five months ago.

Joet Gonzalez made that as difficult on Figueroa as possible on the Manny Pacquiao-Mario Barrios undercard.

The determined underdog got off to a strong start, landed more flush punches during inside exchanges for three-quarters of their bout and forced Figueroa to rally late in their 12-round featherweight fight.

Gonzalez appeared to have built enough of a lead to withstand Figueroa’s solid showing in the 10th, 11th and 12th rounds, but judges Tim Cheatham (116-112), Chris Migliore (115-113) and David Sutherland (116-112) all scored their Premier Boxing Champions pay-per-view opener for the latter.

According to CompuBox’s unofficial punch stats, Figueroa landed 17 more punches overall than Gonzalez (282 of 1,071 to 265 of 821).

Figueroa and Gonzalez hammered away at each other from close distances and landed almost exclusively power punches. CompuBox credited Gonzalez with landing only seven jabs, four more than Figueroa.

They also combined to throw more punches — 1,892 — than any other fight tracked by CompuBox in 2025.

A second straight loss would’ve been a significant setback for Figueroa (26-2-1, 19 KOs), a former unified 122-pound champion and ex-WBC featherweight titleholder.

He switched trainers — from his father, Omar Figueroa Sr., to Manny Robles — after Fulton defeated him by unanimous decision in their second fight Feb. 1 at nearby T-Mobile Arena. He also started training in the Los Angeles area, as opposed to his hometown of Weslaco, Texas, because Figueroa felt he needed a change of scenery to rejuvenate his career.

Gonzalez (27-5, 15 KOs) seemingly deserved better than losing eight rounds apiece on two scorecards in a fight contested almost exclusively on the inside. Instead, the Glendora, California, native settled for his third decision defeat in his past five fights.